Monday Morning Offering - 126

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

Fresh from New Year’s I am, Lord,

just now beginning the third day of 2011…

Beginning a new day, a new month, a new year -
and I know, Lord, that new beginnings come in different ways
for different folks...

I pray this morning for all who have longed,

hungered and waited for a new year,

eager to leave the past year behind…

I pray for those who are more than ready
to move beyond the hurt and disappointment,
the grief and burdens of 2010...

I pray for those who desire a new beginning,

who pray for a new grace

to look afresh at everyone and everything…

And I pray you give them the grace they need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again,

to hope again in you and in your love for us…

I pray this morning for those who are stuck, Lord,

for those who’ve lost the energy, the courage, the desire

to look ahead, to look beyond the past year

to a new beginning...

I pray for those who’ve lost a sense
of when one day ends and another begins...

I pray for those so tired of yesterday

they’ve lost a taste for tomorrow…

And I pray you give them the grace they need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again,

to hope again in you and in your love for us…

And I pray, Lord, for those too tired
to mark the beauty of a rising sun,
the solace of a silvery moon…

I pray for those weighed down by worries and problems,
burdened with too much work

and too little time to do it…

I pray for those whose days and nights blur,
blinding them to even a glimpse of respite…

And I pray you give them the grace they need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again,

to hope again in you and in your love for us…

And I pray, Lord, for those who miss

the gentle ways you hold us when we’re weary,

strengthen us when we’re weak
and carry us from day to day...

I pray for those who need to see
how faithfully you accompany each step we take,

each hour, day and week through which we pass…

I pray for those who long for your peace

in the year we’ve just begun

and for your healing of the year we’ve left behind…

And I pray you give them the grace they need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again,

to hope again in you and in your love for us…

I offer up this morning, Lord, all your people

and my own soul, too, as we begin this new year…

Send your Spirit to open our minds and hearts

to all you will offer us in the year ahead...

Let this truly be a year of grace
and when we fail to love

let your mercy be our healing and your healing be our hope…

Give us the grace we need, Lord,

to begin again, to trust again, to try again,

to hope again in you and in your love for us….

Amen.

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